- in N Africa, a fortress
- the old, crowded quarter of a N African city
Origin of casbahFrench ; from Arabic dialect, dialectal qa?ba, for qa?aba, citadel
- A castle or palace in northern Africa.
- often casbah The older section of a city in northern Africa or the Middle East.
Origin of CasbahFrench, from Arabic dialectal qa&slowdot;ba, from Arabic qa&slowdot;aba, to cut up; see q&slowdot;b in Semitic roots.
From Arabic قصبة (kasabah)